Working paper
To drink or not to drink: the microeconomic analysis of alcohol consumption in Russia in 2006-2010
The goal of this project is to find out the influence of some economic and social factors on the demand for alcohol in modern Russia. The number of regression models is estimated on the base of "The Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS-HSE)" 1994-2011. There are classic models of demand for alcohol of Becker and Murphy (1988): static, myopic and rational addiction models. We use two-step way of estimation because of two-step consumer decision ("to drink or not to drink" and how much to drink). This way let it possible to find out the factors of every decision separately. The new idea of this research is to use as independent variables not only economic parameters (as prices and incomes of respondent and his\her family members) but some social characteristics such as educational level, gender, age, nationality, optimism level, alcohol use by other family members, and other. The first results have demonstrated some that social factors (education, marital status, alcohol use by other family members) are more important that the economic ones (as price for alcohol).
Alcohol consumption is known to have an impact on various aspects of individual’s life. This paper is based on the idea that the alcohol consumption is very likely to influence on subjective well-being. Using data from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey of HSE (RLMS-HSE) in this paper the links between alcohol consumption and subjective well-being is examined. RLMS-HSE data shows that a significant number of individuals consumed alcohol in the last month in Russia, the proportion of men drinkers is extremely high, and is around 60-70%. Two sources of endogeneity are discussed in the paper: individual characteristics, such as one’s value system and traits of character; and the existing environment, for example, a negative macroeconomic situation. Empirical estimates are obtained using probit adapted OLS approach. Results suggest that reasonable consumption of alcohol improves the level of life satisfaction. However, alcohol abuse produces negative effects on life satisfaction.
This paper explores heterogeneity of the alcohol drinking patterns in contemporary Russia demonstrated by consumers of homemade alcohol. Demographic, socio-economic, spatial, and availability factors affecting the consumption of homemade alcoholic beverages are investigated. Data were collected from the RLMS-HSE nationwide survey of individuals aged 15+ years in 2014.
Along with the group of samogon consumers, a group of homemade wine consumers has been revealed for the first time by survey methods. Two groups of samogon and homemade wine consumers are similar in size, show very little overlap, and demonstrate contrasting drinking patterns. Samogon consumers are more addicted to alcohol and drank it in more hazardous ways whereas homemade wine consumers demonstrated more moderate and law-abiding drinking habits.
Past-month drinking of samogon and homemade wine are used as two dependent variables in a binary logistic regression, with demographic, socio-economic, spatial, and availability factors and regional prices of manufactured alcohol as predictors. Samogon consumers are overrepresented among male drinkers, older people, and respondents with a lower level of education and income. They lived in rural areas more and in non-southern regions of Russia. Homemade wine consumers demonstrated the opposite features.
Evaluating the impact of the new alcohol policy of the Russian government, we conclude that the availability of homemade alcohol in respondents’ localities provided the most influential predictors of its consumption whereas price increase for recorded alcohol resulting from the most recent governmental fiscal interventions is not significantly associated with the consumption of homemade alcohol, at least from a short-term perspective.
The subject of this article is a research on interregional differences in volume and structure of alcohol consumption based on official statistical data and testing of a hypothesis about various macroeconomic factors influencing alcohol consumption. This testing was carried out with regression analysis method on the basis of data from regions of the Russian Federation. Indicators used in the analysis were received from official state statistics' sources that are free to access on respective web-sites. Due to the lack of data on alcohol consumption by regions, sales rates of alcohol beverages in per capita volume terms (broken down by commodity) were used as proxy variables of alcohol consumption. On account of information on percentage of spirit in all alcohol products under review per capita indices of absolute alcohol consumption were estimated for each region specifically, contribution of each product into its forming was also assessed.
Smoking is a problem, bringing signifi cant social and economic costs to Russiansociety. However, ratifi cation of the World health organization Framework conventionon tobacco control makes it possible to improve Russian legislation accordingto the international standards. So, I describe some measures that should be taken bythe Russian authorities in the nearest future, and I examine their effi ciency. By studyingthe international evidence I analyze the impact of the smoke-free areas, advertisementand sponsorship bans, tax increases, etc. on the prevalence of smoking, cigaretteconsumption and some other indicators. I also investigate the obstacles confrontingthe Russian authorities when they introduce new policy measures and the public attitudetowards these measures. I conclude that there is a number of easy-to-implementanti-smoking activities that need no fi nancial resources but only a political will.
One of the most important indicators of company's success is the increase of its value. The article investigates traditional methods of company's value assessment and the evidence that the application of these methods is incorrect in the new stage of economy. So it is necessary to create a new method of valuation based on the new main sources of company's success that is its intellectual capital.
This article is talking about state management and cultural policy, their nature and content in term of the new tendency - development of postindustrial society. It mentioned here, that at the moment cultural policy is the base of regional political activity and that regions can get strong competitive advantage if they are able to implement cultural policy successfully. All these trends can produce elements of new economic development.